“Did I just hear everyone leave?” he asked, reaching up with one end of the towel to dry his hair, making it stick up even more, which in turn only made him look sexier. The movement made his pecs and abs flex in the most hypnotic manner, and Jes decided she could watch him do that for days.
Breathing deeply, she forced herself to walk toward him. The towel only partially obscured the wound in his chest, and she could see enough to know that while it was still slightly pink, it was completely sealed and healing fast. The wound looked like it was at least a week or two old.
“Yeah, Harley and Misty wanted to go out to dinner,” she said. “Caleb and Forrest went with them.”
Jake sauntered down the hall, meeting her halfway, the movements of the towel slowing as he regarded her curiously. “You didn’t want to go, too? If you’re hungry, I can put some clothes on, and we can catch up to them.”
As a matter of fact, she was rather hungry. Starving even. But not for food.
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “They said they’d bring us something back. I thought since everyone was out, it might give us a chance to talk.”
Jake studied her thoughtfully for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. I’ll go get a shirt on.”
She almost told him not to bother on her account, but then thought better of it. Talking about giving this thing between them a chance would be a smart thing to do. She didn’t have to jump right into bed with him even if that was why Harley and Misty had practically dragged Caleb and Forrest out for the rest of the evening.
Jes fell into step beside Jake as he made his way to his bedroom. The sensible thing to do would have been to go back downstairs and wait for him, but she was rather fond of the memories they’d made in his room the last time she’d been there. There was no reason they couldn’t talk there.
She stood in the doorway for a moment, stopping to watch the show as Jake pulled a T-shirt over his head. What was it about the way a guy did it that got to her? It was almost as much fun as watching a man take his shirt off.
Almost.
Jes moved over and sat in the chair by the desk, deciding it would be better if she sat there, rather than on the bed beside Jake. That would be too distracting.
She’d been too busy playing doctor last night to see what he’d done with the place, but now she took in the suitcase against the far wall, gun holster hanging on the peg beside the door, and handful of clothes in the wardrobe. There was a suit, a few dress shirts, jeans, and a stack of tees.
“We think we have a lead on where Darby might be holding Olivia Phillips and the other kids,” Jake said, interrupting her perusal of his room.
“You do?”
“Yeah.” He leaned back on his hands. “We spent most of the afternoon going over Darby’s personal and business properties in London and the surrounding areas. Remember how we thought that since Olivia was the only one missing, we figured she could be anywhere? Well, now that we know Darby kidnapped multiple kids, we decided it made more sense for him to be holding them somewhere close by to get the most out of the hostages and dangle them in front of their parents if he had to.”
She agreed. “Makes sense.”
“Exactly. Which is why we helped the analysts in DC scrub through property records, utility bills, traffic cameras, anything we could think of that might narrow the possibilities down. We ended up with a long list, but the intel people hope to have something more manageable by tomorrow morning.”
That was cutting it close, but it was better than nothing.
“Sooner would be better,” she pointed out. “If we have to move on the Lanesborough target before we know where those kids are, it isn’t going to end well for them.”
“Tell me about it,” Jake grumbled.
They both fell silent for a moment, and Jes was wondering how to bring up the thing she really wanted to talk about when Jake spoke again.
“Since Harley and Misty got Caleb and Forrest out of the house, can I assume they both know about us and what happened last night?”
Jes nodded, a little chagrined. “I hadn’t really meant to say anything, but they already knew most of it because Caleb told them he caught us kissing.” She couldn’t help but smile when Jake rolled his eyes at that. “Anyway, I kind of needed someone to talk to about stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?” He frowned. “Did what happen last night upset you?”
She shook her head. “No, definitely not! But the kiss and what we almost did afterward has me spinning a hundred miles an hour. It isn’t the norm for me to make out with my teammates, then spend the whole night and next day replaying the moment over and over in my head.” Before he could say anything, she hurried on. “I don’t want you to think I regret anything that happened between us, because I don’t. It’s just that I needed someone to talk to about it, help me figure things out, you know?”
Jes held her breath, waiting to see how he’d react to her confession.
Jake’s sensuous mouth curved. “I know the feeling. And in the interest of full disclosure, I had a similar conversation with Caleb and Forrest last night. I also spent a good part of the day thinking about that kiss we shared and how much I enjoyed it.”
Her pulse skipped a beat at that. It was a relief to know she wasn’t the only one who felt whatever this was between them.
“I’m not sure what comes next,” she admitted. “Harley told me to stop thinking so much and just do what feels right, but I don’t want to screw up the team we’re building. I’ve been part of a lot of teams, and I really feel this group could be something special.”
